Administrative Litigation Law (ALL) Draft To Be Presented To China’s Standing Committee of The NPC

Carl Minzner Associate Professor of Law at Fordham Law School sent the following email out to China LIS-LAW on Friday it might be of interest to some of you.... The Administrative Litigation Law (ALL) will apparently be submitted to the Standing Committee of the the NPC for first draft review in October.  Below is an interesting interview with Beijing University law professor Jiang Ming'an on some of the relevant issues and possible content.  He predicts moderate reform, not superficial, but also not sweeping. Whether and if some of this content is actually implemented (and in what form) might be an interesting test for the direction of legal reform under the Xi administration. Key points include: 1) The scope of the ALL will be increased as a means of diverting disputes that are currently being channeled into petitioning (xinfang) channels.  Jiang argues that current standing limits restricting suit to personal or financial injury need to be relaxed, to encompass any legal injury. 2) Jurisdiction for ALL suits will be altered.  Jiang argues that cases should be handled by intermediate, rather than basic level, people's courts 3) Mediation will be allowed for ALL suits.  Jiang argues that careful limits should be imposed. 4) Public interest ALL suits will be allowed.  Jiang argues that the revised ALL should just establish the principle that the procuratorate and some designated civil society groups should be authorized to bring them.  Details should be spelled out later. 5) The types of decisions that courts can issue for ALL suits should be increased. Additionally, Jiang himself suggests that: A) Courts should be required to issue decisions when they are refusing to accept cases (bu li'an). B) Trials under the ALL should be open (except for those involving trade secrets or national security) C) Enforcement penalties should be imposed for administrative officials whose units fail to enforce decisions under the ALL. Thoughts from any other list members? http://www.chinacourt.org/article/detail/2013/05/id/961583.shtml